Best Boardwalks for Cycling

Ocean City, N.J.

9 / 11

Quaint, Family-Oriented Beach Town

Experience: This is one of the most spacious and cleanest boardwalks—it’s a dry town, after all—on Jersey’s coast. And unlike some neighboring towns to the north that got battered by Sandy last October, OCNJ’s wooden planks survived pretty much unscathed. Stay in your designated lane (pedestrians get their own) as you pass by typical boardwalk shops on one side, a clear view of the ocean on the other. At night, hit Gillian’s Wonderland Pier, which includes a giant Ferris wheel and a glass maze. Or head to Playland’s Castaway Cove for the spinning Cyclone and whirling Wipe Out. Downtown has multiple parking lots for bikes.

Go Longer: The 2.74-mile Route 52 causeway, the most expensive bridge project in New Jersey history (at $400 million), connects Ocean City to the mainland (Somers Point) and has a brand-new bike lane. Or point south and cruise 11 miles past marshes and along the open water to mellow Sea Isle City.

Rent: Ocean City Bicycle Center rents cruisers and surreys for as little as $6 an hour. Tuckahoe Bike shop organizes group rides.

Taste: Queue up early for a vanilla doughnut at Browns Restaurant—or brave the long weekend waits. Of all the pizza joints on the Jersey waterfront, Manco & Manco, where they toss dough while you wait, might just have the best $2.25 cheese slices. Shriver’s has been pulling saltwater taffy—from teaberry to molasses mint—since 1898. Don’t go home without a 28-ounce tub of Johnson’s caramel popcorn.